Airship



Jan; 18 ,h 1927.

A1-l. "r. AVERY AIRSHIP l Filed March 24, 1925 2 sheets-sheet 2 @SMQ l.Patented rJan. I8, 1927,

UNITED STATES y A [1,615,002 PATENT orifice.

HAROLD T. AVERY, QE SAN -LUIS OBISPO, CALIFORNIA.

AIBSHIP.

application mea March 24, 1925.. 'serial No. 17.959.

necessary to have the ships weight very accurately counterbalanced at times of landing and of taking olf, which usually involves l0 much expense and time in accurately adjustingtemperatures and inflations. Also in flying suoli an airship it sometimes happens that a high object lies in the path ofthe ship, which the ship has not sufli'cient buoyancy and climbing ability to surmount. In all of these instances it Vwould be desirable to be able to exert a portion of the power of provide an airship with such additional' equipment or appurtenances as to make possible the objects outlined as beingdesirable inthe last sentence above.

To this end it is proposed tol equip ,the

airship with certain additional propellers,"

arranged in such a manner as to make p'ossible the attaining of these objects. Further objects of the invention will appear hereinafter.

and combination of parts to bedescribed' hereinafter, all of which contribute to produce an airship whichcan be handled with greaterA ease, dispatch, accuracy, and econ-- 40 omy than has heretofore been possible, par-vv ticularly in landing, taking olf, surmounting objects, `and holding ixed positions in thev air.

A preferred embodiment of the-invention is described in the following specifications,

The invention consists in the novel parts' a plan ofthe same power car. i

`1 certain of -themachinery inthe same power f car (sectioned along line 4 4, Fig. 5) showing particularly the shafts, clutches, and gears which it is proposed to use in'manipulatin'g the propellers.

Fig. 5 is a rear elevation of the same machinery (sectioned along line 5 5, Fig. 4).

Fig. 6 is a plan of the same machinery shown in Figures 4 vand 5.

Fig. 7 is a bow elevation of the airship showing the proposed arrangement of power cars andv propellers.

Fig. 8 is a sideelevation of the airship showing the same arrangement of cars and propellers. v

Fig. 9 is a bottom plan of the airship showing the same arrangement of cars and propellers as Figures 7 and 8.

.According to my invention, I provide,- in addition to the propellers with which an airship is customarily equipped to propel it longitudinally, certain addition 1 propellers mounted to revolveon vertical axes, andcertain other additional propellers'mounted to revolve on horizontal axes perpendicular to the length fof. the airship. v

Figures 1, 2 and 3 show one of the power cars equipped with certain of `these additional propellers. peller with which such a power car is ordi-' Propeller 1 is the pro-A narily equipped to propel the airshiplongiof mechanical arrangements that could be' devised, within the scope of this invention, for the driving of these propellers, I have represented 'in Figures 4, 5, and 6 one such possible arrangement.

Shafts 4, 5, and`6 are the shafts on'wh'ich propellers 1, 2, andv 3, res ectively, are mounted. These are arrange to -be'driven selectively or in combination by engine 7 'tudinally In addition to this, I- provide To allow of'this Il provide clutches 8, 9, and

10, and gears 17, 18,-and 19.` Although I haveindicated clutches 8, 9, and 10 to be of the cone type, any suitable type of clutch can be used that will allow the operator,

when desired, to disengage the clutch and,

thus leave the shaft `on one vside *of .the clutch free to revolve independently of that on the other side, or, when desired, to

lio

two pieces of shaft the equivalent of one continuous piece of shafting. lI rovide on shaft l4, between clutches 8 an 9,"a worm gear 11, Ahaving teeth set at a sharp enough angle to freely drive the worms meshing with it. On the end of shaft 6I provide a worm 12, meshing with gear 11. Thus whe ever engine 7 is running and clutch 8 engaged, shaft 6 will be driven by means of gear 11 and worm 12; and if clutch is engaged propeller 3 will be driven, while if it is disengaged propeller 3 will be idle.

. I provide, also, auxiliary shafts 13 and 14 on the upper ends of which are mounted worms 15 and 16, respectively, meshing with wormgear 11, and on the lower ends of which are mounted gears 17 and 18, respectively. Midway between the lower portions of shafts 13 and 14 stands the upper portion of shaft 5. Gear 19 is keyed to shaft 5, but is arranged so that( it can be slid alonglthe shaft when desired.v Thus when ear 19 is shifted down to mesh with gear 1 shaft 5 and propeller 2 will be connected for driving in one direction, while when it is shifted up to mesh with gear 18 they willbe connected for driving in the opposite direction, and when in a sition not meshing with ,either they will e idle. The purpose of yclutch 8 is to allow of disconnecting these ears irom the engine, by 'disengaging the c utch, during the shifting of these gears.

"When engine 7 is running and clutches 8 and 9 both engaged, propeller 1 will be driven by the engine; If it is desired to lhave this pro eller idle durin the useV of one or both o the other prope ers, clutch 9 may be disengaged. i

Thus lit is possible by the manipulation of clutches 9 and 10 and the shifting of gear l19, to drive olf of engine 7' any one of the three propellers independently peller 2 1n either direction d r drive simultaneously any. combination `of A "two propellers, or all,` threeat once. l

Although there is no limit to the number of 'different arrangements of power cars and propellers that may be devised within the scope of this invention, I have re resented -in Figures 7,. 8, and 9 my preferre embodiment of the general arrangement.

As shown in the above mentioned gures, four of the ower cars I provide are each eguipped wit three ropel ers,"in the maiiner outlined above. ,wo lpower cars, 20 and 21', are arranged exactly ike the 4power car shown in Figures 1, 2, and 3; and two power-cars, 22 and 23, are similar to cars '20 yand 21 except reversed side for side. These four power cars are placed so as to 'ibo located, in plalnat the four corners of a trapezoid, they being so located as toxmake thetrapezoid as and as nearly rectan- -airs 'p.

driving pro-` esired, or. to

gular'as practicable, and to center as nearly as racticable the center of mass yof the In addition to these four power cars, I provide two other power cars, 24 .and 25, located opposite each other at about the middle of length of the trapezoid men-I tioned above, each` equipped with one reversible ropeller revolving on a longitudinal ax1s,'the entire machinery on these power carsbeing similar to that on existing airshi s. All of these power cars are attache -to the mainbody 26 of the airship, portions of which are arranged for linflation with gaslighter than air. l

When \it is desired to .raise the airship,

the vertical propeller 2 on each of' the four power cars 20, 21, 22, and 23 can be driven in the proper direction for raisin the'airship; and when it is desired to Iower the airship, driven in the opposite direction. The longitudinal motion of the airship during rasing or lowering may be accurately contro led by the reversible propellers `of power cars 24 and 25, or if it is desired to drive the ship forward-atany considerable speed during either of these processes propellers 1, 1,1, 1 on wer cars .20, 2 1, 22, and 23 may be vIltilizeflo Ifat anytime it isdesired to move the airship sidewise, or to oiset-the'ei'ect of a side wind against it, as might be particularly desirable when lowering the ship into some particular position, this may be accomplished by using Propellers 3; 3 on power cars 20 and 21, or on power cars 22 and 23, depending on the direction 'of movement or force desired. If, si1nilarly,litf`isl desired to rotate .the shiphorizontally, this may be ac' Aco'mpli'shed by using propellers 3, 3 on power or lower the ship, at the same time'keeping all horizontal motion and rotation of the ship entirely within control, so that the airship may be accurately raised or lowered to any desired position. f

It is understood thatlthe embodiment of the invention described herein Ais only one of the many embodiments this invention may take,.and I do not wi/sh yto be limitedin the practice of the invention, nor in the claims, to thed particular embodiment set forth.

1. In an airship, the Weight of which is counterbalanced, at least in art,-v by the inilaton of portions of .the alrship with gas lighterthan air, the combination of two ship-"andtwo power cars' or units located A of the power'of the airships engines to raiseI opposite each other near the rear` ortion of the airship, each of the ears or umts having one propeller designed to revolve on an axis approximately parallel to the length Vof the airship,( and one propeller designed other near the forward portion of the airship and two power cars or units located opposite each other near the rear portion of the airship, each of the cars or units havin" three propellers, one designed to revolve on an axis approximately parallel to the length of the airship, lone designed to revolve on an axis approximately vertical, and onedesigned to revolve on-an axis approximately horizontal and perpendicular to the length of the airship, .and having means for driving said propellers, either all together, in combinations as desired, or separately, allowing such /propellers as desired to remain idle.

' 3. In an airship, the combination of two power cars or units located opposite each other near the center of length of the airship having propellers mounted on axes parallel to the length of the airship., U also two power cars or units located opposite each other near the forward portion of the airship, and two power cars or units located opposlte each other near the rear portion of the airship each of the last mentioned oars or units having three propellers mounted on mutually perpendicular axes, and having means' for drivin said propellers, either all together, in combinations as desired,.or separately, allowing such propellers as desired to remain idle.

4. In an airship, the weight of which is counterbalanced, at least in part, by the iniiation ofportions of the airship with gas lighter than air, the combination of two f power cars or units located opposite each other near the center of lengthof the airship, having propellers designed to revolve on axes approximately parallel to the length of the airship and having means for drivi ing and at will reversing the direction of rotation of said propellers, also two power cars or units located opposite eachother near the forward portion of the airship, and two power cars or units located opposite each other near the rear portion of the airship, each of the four last mentioned power cars or units having three propellers, one designed to revolve on an axis approximately parallel to the length of the airship, one deslgned to revolve on an axis approximatelyvertical, and one designed to revolvel on an axis approximately horizontal and perpendicular 4to the length of the airship, and having means for driving said propel- 1erseither all together, in combinations as desired, or separately, allowing such propellers as desired to remain idle.

Signed at San Luis Obispo, California, this 18thday of March, 1925.

HAROLD T. AVERY. 

